Chapter 332: Testing
Just as Wise steadied his footing, attempting to scan the familiar, chaotic distortion of the Hollow environment around him, an icy grip clamped down on his wrist. The force was absolute, locking his bones in place like a steel vice.
He turned his head, immediately meeting a pair of calm, deep crimson eyes that stared back with the chilling stillness of a frozen abyss.
The person anchoring him was none other than Hoshimi Miyabi.
She still wore her crisp Section 6 uniform jacket. Aside from a faint dusting of ash along the hem, she looked entirely unbothered. It was as if the high-speed chase and the violent, bone-rattling plunge into the Hollow hadn't affected her in the slightest. She stood quietly at his side, her breathing perfectly even, as though she had been standing there since the beginning of time.
Wise masked his internal shock. He hadn't expected Miyabi's speed to be this terrifying.
Only moments ago, they had been tearing across the outer wasteland at over a hundred kilometers per hour. Right at the exact second their vehicle was blown apart and swallowed by the Hollow's fissure, she had somehow managed to track their trajectory. She had matched their descent, arriving inside the dimensional distortion at the exact same time as the wreckage.
This physical feat completely shattered the limits of ordinary human capability. It was a stark, obvious display of just how unfathomably dangerous the youngest Void Hunter truly was.
With his wrist still trapped in her iron grip, Wise shifted uncomfortably. He gave a tentative tug, testing the restraint, but Miyabi remained perfectly still, her fingers merely tightening a fraction more to shut down his movement.
Left with no other options, Wise offered a dry, diplomatic smile. "Miss Miyabi, could you perhaps let go for a moment? I'd like to wipe the sweat off my face."
Miyabi merely cast a sidelong glance at him. Her cool, measured voice left zero room for negotiation. "No. Before I confirm the perimeter and wait for my squad to rendezvous, you will cooperate and remain exactly where you are."
"Wandering aimlessly inside a Hollow only invites corruption and attracts Ethereals. You will not find an exit on your own."
Her logic was flawless, but Wise knew the underlying truth. She was simply locking down her primary suspect to ensure he didn't pull another vanishing act.
Then, the air shifted.
Miyabi moved without a single warning breath. Her left hand blurred. At some imperceptible moment, she had already seized her sheathed katana. Though the blade remained locked in its scabbard, the sheer kinetic force of her swing tore a sharp gust of wind through the air. The blunt end of the weapon struck directly toward Wise's face, moving with the lethal precision of a viper lunging from the shadows.
The strike was blindingly fast, launched from a blind angle that offered zero reaction time.
Wise's pupils contracted to pinpricks. Every muscle in his body coiled tight as a spike of pure ice shot up his spine.
Yet, even as his adrenaline spiked, his analytical mind processed the variables with absolute clarity. This is a feint. A probe.
Section 6 was an official, highly regulated agency. Even if they suspected him of possessing illicit Hollow data, they had no legal ground to subject an "investigative assistant" to summary execution or physical torture without a formal interrogation.
In a fraction of a second, Wise ruthlessly crushed his body's instinctive urge to evade. He locked his knees, standing stubbornly in place. He didn't even blink, his dark eyes staring fixedly at the rapidly enlarging tip of the scabbard rushing toward his skull.
Just as predicted. A millimeter before the scabbard shattered his nose, all kinetic force vanished. The weapon stopped dead in the air, perfectly steady, while the displaced wind from the strike whipped his hair back.
His logical deduction had been correct, but Wise still felt a cold sweat instantly soak his shirt. Dancing on a razor's edge between life and a shattered skull was hardly an enjoyable experience.
He drew a slow, deliberate breath, forcing his racing heart to settle. When he spoke, his tone held a careful mixture of lingering alarm and dry accusation.
"Miss Miyabi, what exactly is the meaning of this? Has it become standard protocol for Section 6 to physically assault their persons of interest before asking questions?"
A faint ripple of doubt finally surfaced behind Miyabi's stoic facade.
Earlier, when her squad had cornered the Cunning Hares, this Proxy named Wise had remained entirely unbothered. Facing the oppressive presence of her elite team, he had shown absolutely zero signs of panic. That composure had led her to a logical conclusion: his confidence stemmed from hidden strength. He had to be hiding a powerful trump card.
But during her sudden ambush just now, he hadn't reacted. No blocking, no dodging, and most, not a single trace of Aether energy fluctuation. He looked exactly like an ordinary civilian with slightly sluggish reflexes.
Could my assessment be flawed? Miyabi mused inwardly, her crimson eyes analyzing him. Is he simply... unusually emotionally detached? Or just slow?
Facing Wise's steady gaze, she maintained her icy composure. She smoothly withdrew her arm, letting the sheathed katana rest at her side, and offered a flat, clinical excuse. "That action was not directed at you. I was targeting the Ethereal preparing to ambush us from behind."
As if on cue, a muffled explosion echoed from a pile of twisted metal debris just a few meters behind Wise. A lurking Thunder Spider, caught by the sheer kinetic shockwave of her feint, ruptured and dissolved into a dissipating cloud of purple Aether energy.
Wise, naturally, knew this was a convenient cover story. Given Miyabi's terrifying strength and acute Aether perception, if she had truly wanted to eliminate a low-level Ethereal, she had a dozen more precise methods that didn't involve nearly caving in his face.
But he wasn't about to call her bluff. He simply played along, offering a polite nod. "I see. Then I suppose I should thank you for saving my life, Miss Miyabi."
"However, if a similar situation arises in the future, a brief verbal warning would be appreciated. You really could scare a normal person to death moving like that."
Following the sudden, thinly veiled probe, the atmosphere between them cooled to a freezing point.
Miyabi's fingers remained locked around Wise's wrist. A heavy, oppressive silence stretched across the ruined landscape. The swordswoman maintained her characteristic stoicism, acting as if the near-lethal strike had never happened. Her sharp eyes continuously swept the bizarre, floating geometry of the Hollow, remaining ever vigilant.
Wise, meanwhile, mentally reviewed the disastrous string of luck he had endured today. First, being targeted by Section 6. Then, suffering a random armed assault that sent their vehicle plummeting into a Hollow fissure. Now, he was being held captive as a prime suspect by one of New Eridu's most dangerous Void Hunters. It was an exhausting series of escalations. Deep down, he couldn't shake the nagging suspicion that their unseen enemies were always one step ahead, anticipating their every move.
Fortunately, his greatest asset remained hidden. He opened his internal System interface, pulling up the multiversal Chat Group to coordinate with Belle.
[Wise]: Belle, the situation has taken a slight downturn. I've officially been 'apprehended' by Hoshimi Miyabi from Section 6. We're currently stranded inside the Hollow.
Through the mental link, he quickly summarized the chaos: Nicole accidentally leading Section 6 right to them, the subsequent standoff, the sudden ambush by unknown armed assailants, and the explosive crash that threw them into the distortion.
[Belle]: Ah?! How did it go wrong that fast?! Nicole really is... ugh. I thought bringing her in was a godsend to help us deal with Bringer's mess, but I didn't expect it to backfire this badly!
Belle's mental voice carried a heavy dose of exasperation and worry, but it lacked her usual frantic panic.
She knew the truth. The current Wise was no longer the fragile brother she had to constantly stress over whenever he ventured near a Hollow. Having integrated the destructive power of the Flame-Flame Fruit, and backed by the reliable companions in their Chat Group, he was more than capable of protecting himself. As long as he didn't run into an apocalyptic-level threat, finding a way out of this Hollow would be a walk in the park.
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]